Beyond Budgeting: 7 Surprising Benefits of Meal Planning

It’s no secret that meal planning can help you save money. Having a plan means you can use up what you’ve already bought, grocery shop with intention for only what you need instead of impulsive purchases, and eat more homemade meals instead of takeout. Some people don’t love the idea of meal planning because they think they won’t have flexibility to just eat what they feel like on the day of, but it doesn’t have to be a boring, rigid, written-in-stone kind of thing. Meal planning CAN be flexible if that’s what you need, but more importantly, a solid meal plan can actually bring more freedom in other ways than the fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants approach.

This post will explore the additional, often-overlooked benefits of meal planning. Whether you’re a busy family with kids, a student with loans to pay, or anyone looking to learn about meal planning, this is the place to start.

1.       Planning saves you time

Going to get groceries with a plan in place means you can be more efficient – fewer and faster in-store decisions, less impulse shopping, and fewer trips to the store to pick up that thing you ran out of or forgot to get. Your meal plan can save you time every single day too, especially if you’ve planned for batch cooking or mix-and-match meals. This means freedom from rummaging through the pantry to scrounge up whatever looks good, only to realize you are missing a key ingredient (because we’ve all been there, and it’s no fun)

2.       Health benefits

When we scramble to put together a meal out of thin air, nutrient dense foods are often overlooked in the name of convenience and speed. Having a plan means that you can try to balance meals more often, with veggies, lean proteins and plant proteins (which may need more time to prep). If you need to manage portions of certain foods for health reasons, planning is essential to make sure that your meals are as balanced and work for your needs.  A solid plan also means you can rely less on last-minute impulse fast food and delivery meals, potentially reducing your intake of salt and saturated fats that can increase risk of various chronic illnesses.

3.       Reduce stress and decision fatigue

You’re on your way home from work at 5:00. You’re hungry, and have no idea what’s for dinner. What’s in the fridge, do I have time and energy to make something with these ingredients, do I need to stop at the store to get anything else, oh crap did I defrost that chicken yesterday? You’re stressed and hangry and not likely to make good decisions!  Imagine instead what would happen if you had made a meal plan on the weekend. That mental load is reduced, because you already know what’s for dinner, you know you have the right ingredients ready to go, and maybe you’ve even prepped something ahead of time knowing you’d be working late today. With everything else that we have to remember through the day, figuring out dinner is just not something I personally have the mental capacity for at the end of a long day at work – so a meal plan is a huge relief when it’s already predetermined and I just have to make it happen when I walk in the door. Any opportunity to reduce the mental load is a HUGE help for parents juggling busy schedules, or for people managing health conditions where a lapse in their eating habits could be detrimental.

4.       Less food waste

We’ve all been there. You buy a beautiful bounty of veggies and fruits and you have such good intentions for them – but by the end of the week, all you’ve done is watch them get withered and soggy and sad in the back of the fridge. When you’re only shopping for what you’ve actually planned to use, you aren’t going to let those fresh foods go to waste and end up with a slimy mess to clean up later. You may also decide to make better use of seasonal ingredients (often less expensive, and supporting local farmers).

5.       Support your financial goals, and budgeting beyond groceries

Money saved on unnecessary groceries means more money to use for other priorities – paying down debt, saving or investing, or even investing in higher quality foods (like the fancy eggs, or locally sourced meats). Since meal planning means less impulse shopping, less food waste, and more efficient use of the foods you already have in the pantry, you’re going to end up with more money in your pocket. What could that extra money do for future you? It may not seem like much week to week, but over time those little savings can turn into something much more meaningful.

6.       Encourages shared responsibility

A meal plan doesn’t have to be only one person’s responsibility. If you live with others – family, kids, friends or roommates, a spouse or partner – it doesn’t all have to fall on your shoulders. For couples and roommates, meal planning together gives everyone ownership, and the responsibility for cooking duties can be split up more equitably. For families, kids can help with the planning and prepping – stay tuned for a future post on getting kids involved ;)

7.       Builds life skills

Meal planning in itself is a life skill that many of us didn’t learn growing up. Just like any other new skill, it takes time to find your groove and feel comfortable. For families with kids, meal planning together brings a whole host of life skill building benefits. Kids can help with choosing recipes or components of a meal, deciding what they’d like to take for school lunches and snacks, looking through flyers, and building a grocery list. They get to experience real-world examples of household management, how to budget within your means, how to build a balanced meal, and how to still enjoy indulgences and treat yourself sometimes (because delivery pizza is absolutely going to be in my meal plan and grocery list from time to time).

Meal plans don’t have to be boring and rigid unless you want them to be. By putting in the effort to make a plan that works for you and your household, you stand to gain more than just a few dollars. If you’re not meal planning already, try it for a week, or even just for a few days at a time, and see what benefits you find, both for your wallet and your peace of mind.

Feeling inspired to start meal planning? Before you dive in, make sure you’re not falling into common traps that can derail your good intentions. Check out these common meal planning pitfalls for tips on what to avoid and how to set yourself up for success.